In which there's a story about an unusual prosperity
I'm absurdly fond of root vegetables. Not just potatoes and sweet potatoes, but also rutabagas and parsnips and TURNIPS! So, here's a story about that.
The Enormous Turnip
(Russia)
The grandfather had had been looking after animals and
growing vegetables for his whole life - but he had never known a harvest as bad
as this one.
'Our cabbages, potatoes and turnips - they've all been
ruined by weeks of rain,' he sighed. 'We'll have nothing to eat during the
harsh winter.'
But the grandmother knew something that the grandfather did
not. She took him through the mud to the
furthest corner of the turnip field.
Under a tree in a corner, a bunch of green leaves were
sprouting tall and proud from the top of a giant root.
“See that?” said the grandmother. “It’s the answer to our problems. This turnip is big enough to feed us through
the winter, all by itself. We need only
pull it up.”
The grandfather took hold of the greens, and he pulled.
He pulled and he tugged, and he tugged and he
pulled, but the turnip didn’t budge from the mud.
The grandmother came to help.
She grabbed the grandfather by the hand, and
together they pulled. They pulled and they tugged, and they tugged and they
pulled, but that enormous turnip didn’t budge from the mud.
The grandson came to help.
He grabbed the grandmother by the hand, and together they pulled. They
pulled and they tugged, and they tugged and they pulled, but still, the turnip
didn’t budge from the mud.
The granddaughter came to help. She grabbed the grandson by the hand, and
together they pulled. They pulled and they tugged, and they tugged and they
pulled, but still, the turnip didn’t budge from the mud.
The big goat came to help.
He grabbed the granddaughter by the apron strings and together they
pulled. They pulled and they tugged, and they tugged and they pulled, but
still, the turnip didn’t budge from the mud.
The sheepdog came to help.
She grabbed the big goat by the tail, and together they pulled. They
pulled and they tugged, and they tugged and they pulled, but even now, the
turnip didn’t budge from the mud.
The barncat came to help, and the barn mice came too.
They all pulled and tugged, tugged and
pulled, but that turnip didn’t budge from the mud.
At long and at last, a tiny cricket came to help.
Nobody thought a cricket would be much help, as small as she
was, but she grabbed a barn mouse by the tail, and one last time, together they
pulled.
They pulled and they tugged.
They tugged and they pulled.
And finally, the enormous turnip came out of the mud.
It was so big that the grandfather and grandmother had
plenty to eat from it all winter.
It was so big that the grandchildren had plenty to eat from
it all winter.
It was so big that the goat and the dog and the cat and the
mice and even the little cricket had plenty to eat from it all winter.
It was so big that the whole village ate well from the
turnip all winter long.
It was so big that the whole county ate well from the turnip
all winter long.
It was so big that all of Russia ate well from the turnip
all winter long.
And if the grandfather hadn’t lost the seeds, the whole
world might still be eating turnips, all winter long.
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